Datsun Z Restoration — 240Z, 260Z & 280Z Specialists

What we take on

Half a day to two years

People assume we only take six-figure builds. Most of what rolls through the shop is nothing like that.

Half a day

Billet hood hinges, aligned properly

Every S30 owner knows the factory hood gap. Getting it genuinely straight takes an eye.

A day or two

Carb work, Weber tuning, exhaust

The jobs that are past most people's driveway limit but nowhere near a build.

A week

Rear disc conversion, brake upgrades

Bolt-on in theory. Rarely bolt-on in practice on a fifty-year-old car.

A month or more

Interiors, engine builds, one-off fabrication

Increasingly done in house, including the engine work we used to sublet.

Six months+

Rust repair, metal work, floors and frame rails

The work that decides whether a car is worth saving. We start here more often than you'd think.

18–24 months

Ground-up build

Two at a time, and the queue is long. Worth asking early if this is where you're headed.

If it's a set of hinges, bring us the hinges. Those are the jobs that keep the garage door open.

Capabilities

What we do

Restoration, metal fabrication, engine work and service — all on S30-chassis Datsun Z cars.

Restoration

Full teardown to bare shell and back. Rust repair, floors, frame rails, and the structural work most shops send away.

Metal fabrication
Panel & body work
Paint preparation

Fabrication

One-off parts made in house when nothing off the shelf will do it — custom exhaust routing, molded body work, brackets and mounts.

Custom exhaust
Molded body kits
Bespoke hardware

Engine & drivetrain

Rebuilds and swaps, increasingly built in house. Triple Webers, SR and 1JZ swaps, six-speed conversions.

Engine building
Swaps & conversions
Carburetor tuning

Service & upgrades

The steady work. Brake conversions, suspension, electrical, and the jobs a good owner can't quite finish at home.

Brake upgrades
Suspension
Maintenance

How we work

You approve the work before you're billed

Handing your car and your money to a shop you found online is a real risk. Here's how we take that off the table.

No deposit

We don't ask for money up front. Not on a service job, not on a two-year build.

Billed by milestone

Teardown is an invoice. The engine build is an invoice. You always know what you're paying for.

Signed off first

Nothing is billed until the work is done, you've seen it, and you're happy with it.

Straight updates

Good, bad, or nothing to report — you'll hear it. If something's worth knowing, we won't sit on it.

Until I've got something to show you that I'm ready to sign off on, I don't feel like I've earned your business yet. Erik · Owner

Selected builds

Award-winning Z builds

Every one of them does something we haven't done before. That's the point of them. This year's car stays covered until Phoenix.

Allie-Gator

Chassis	S30
Colour	Dark green
Scope	Ground-up restoration
Built for	Power, looks, stopping
Award	Best Engine · ZCON 2025

The Celestial

Chassis	Series 1
Scope	Period-correct
Detail	Correct-spec parts
Award	Best Exterior · ZCON 2025
Status	Complete

Lime

Chassis	S30
Scope	Ground-up
Award	Best in Show · ZCON 2024
Award	Best Interior · ZCON 2024
Status	Delivered

Erik's first car, a red 1971 Datsun 240Z, photographed after he finished restoring it in high school

How this started

A car pulled out of a swamp

Erik's first Z was a 1971 240Z sitting behind an abandoned gas station in the mud. It came out on a flatbed because the floors, the frame, and the firewall were gone.

His father was a mechanic at Chrysler. His brother ran a Ford dealership. When Erik was nine, his brother took a Z in on trade and brought it home, and that was that. At fifteen his dad told him to find a car — there were a couple of years before his license, and enough time to build it.

The first time they put a jack under it, the engine started coming up through the hood. They ordered floors and frame rails out of a JC Whitney catalog, and his father said the first thing I'm going to teach you about cars is how to weld.

He finished it the afternoon of his senior prom, and picked up his date that night with grease still on his hands.

Years later, in Florida, there was no real Z club nearby — so he started one. In 2018 an ad for ZCON turned up on Facebook and they drove to Georgia for the show, not knowing what the event was. Leaving the hotel, they put their heads around the door of the closing ceremony and pulled back out. I want to get in that room someday.

Four Best of awards later, SoFlo builds the car that sits in that room.

Out-of-state clients

Shipping a Z to us from out of state

There aren't many shops doing this work on S30s, and people have stopped looking for one nearby. Cars come to Boca Raton from across the country, and from outside it.

Talk it through first

Send photos and tell us what you want. We'll tell you honestly whether it's worth doing and roughly what it involves.

Getting it here

Enclosed transport for anything that matters. We'll point you to carriers we've worked with and take delivery at the shop.

While it's with us

Photos and updates when there's something to see. You won't have to chase us, and you won't get a daily blog either.

Going home

Sorted, sorted properly, and shipped back — or come get it. Plenty of people make the trip on purpose.

Common questions

What people ask before they call

How much does a Datsun Z restoration cost?

It depends entirely on what the car needs and what you want from it. A ground-up build on a rough S30 runs into six figures and takes eighteen months to two years. A rear disc conversion is a week. A set of hood hinges is half a day.

Most of the work we do is far closer to the second and third of those. Our shop rate is quoted before we start, and we bill by milestone as work is completed.

Do you only take on full restorations?

No, and this is the thing people get wrong about us most often. Roughly half the shop is dedicated to maintenance, upgrades and smaller builds — carb work, brake conversions, interiors, one-off fabrication, engine work.

You do not need a six-figure budget to bring us a car.

Do you require a deposit?

No. We don't take deposits, and we don't bill for labour until the work is finished, you've seen it, and you're happy with it. Until then we don't feel we've earned it.

Can I ship my car to you from out of state?

Yes — most of our builds now come from outside Florida, and some from outside the country. Send photos and tell us what you're after, and we'll give you an honest read before anything moves.

We'll point you toward enclosed transport carriers we've worked with and take delivery at the shop in Boca Raton.

How long does a full Z restoration take?

Eighteen months to two years for a ground-up build, and we run two at a time. There is a waiting list. Smaller jobs move through in days or weeks and slot in around the long builds.

Which Datsun and Nissan models do you work on?

We specialise in the S30 chassis — the Datsun 240Z, 260Z and 280Z. That's where our fabrication, rust repair and engine work is deepest, and it's what we build show cars from.

Is my Z too far gone to restore?

Usually not. Erik's first Z came out of a swamp behind an abandoned gas station with the floors, frame and firewall gone. Rust repair and structural metal work are the part of this trade most shops send away, and they're what we do in house.

Send photos. We'll tell you honestly whether it's worth saving.

Will you build me something like your show cars?

Often people don't want the whole car — they want one part of it. The interior, the custom exhaust, the fabricated Weber horns. Any of it can be done on your own car as a standalone job. Tell us which detail caught your eye.

Datsun Z restorationdone properly